5 female-led teen horrors to watch on Halloween

Rivers of ink have been written about the privileged relationship between horror cinema and female protagonists. Since the genre's early days, with Feuillade's epic Les Vampires, the fatal women of horror cinema have dominated the imagination of the authors. There have been many films that have represented the so-called sub-section of female horror: from Cat People in the 1940s to Roman Polanski's Repulsion, to Suspiria and the modern final girls of the American slashers of the 70s and 80s, horror cinema has always been at the forefront of the times in the representation of identity and the female psyche. In the 90s, the subgenre of teen horror was born, a family of films all related to Scream, who found themselves using a more or less fixed formula: a sleepy American city, the classic high school with lockers and canteen, a plot made of family and sentimental intrigue and, of course, a female protagonist.  

To get better into the Halloween mood and rediscover some of the forgotten classics of this filmography, as well as to receive excellent inspirations for your outfits of the 90s, nss G-Club has compiled for you a list of the five best female-led teen horror movies to watch on Halloween. 

The Craft (Andrew Fleming, 1996)

Perhaps the lightest and most enjoyable film on this list, The Craft is a true dip in the edgy aesthetic of the 90s. Set in a Los Angeles high school, in which the protagonist enters a witches' coven and discovers the world of black magic, The Craft has become over the years an absolute cult. Firstly for the nostalgia it is able to evoke, secondly for the incredible outfits of the protagonists - a true teen goth masterpiece made of leather jackets, long dresses, chokers, rosaries and plaid skirts paired with black ankle boots. 

Scream (Wes Craven, 1996)

A film that wanted to destroy the slasher genre but ended up marking its rebirth, Scream is perhaps the biggest classic of 90s teen horror. Initiator of a saga that continues until now, absolute center of the story is the Sidney Prescott of Neve Campbell, the protagonist who has subverted all the preconceptions that revolved around the so-called scream queens. From its fulminating and iconic incipit ("What's your favorite horror movie?") Up to the soundtrack, its constant self-irony and its final twists, Scream is a movie that can't miss in your rewatch list.

I know what you did last summer (Kevin Williamson, 1997)

Directed by the Scream screenwriter and starring a cast of 90s teen idols led by Jennifer Love Hewitt and Sarah Michelle Gellar (i.e. the Buffy Summers of the eponymous series) this classic slasher movie is another bombshell of nostalgia filled with melancholy autumn atmospheres, tense moments and a soundtrack full of now-forgotten musical goodies. If Scream is the smartest and brightest movie on this list, I know what you did last summer is the most classic – and years later it still gives you excitement.

Ginger Snaps (John Fawcett, 2000)

This film is the founding pillar of one of the best horror trilogies in the genre's history and is the most mature and intelligent (albeit gloomy and violent) of all the female horrors on this list. The story revolves around two sisters who, upon reaching their sexual maturity, discover that they are werewolves responsible for the brutal killings that terrorized their city. This film, with its gloomy atmospheres, its deep psychological undertones and its totally grunge/gothic style, definitely deserves a vision for Halloween.

Cherry Falls (Geoffrey Wright, 2000)

Cherry Falls is the first film to subvert the stereotype that, in horror films, it is only the characters who abstain from sex who survive. The killer of this film, in fact, kills exclusively virgins – and this will lead to increasingly ironic and unexpected evolutions in the plot until the final revelation. The star of Cherry Falls is the late Brittany Murphy, star of many girl movies in the 90s, and she holds on her shoulders a film that goes head-to-head against all the stereotypes of American male culture.